Moore said he did not blame Kerry for voting to go to war in Iraq because he said Kerry was misled by Bush to believe that Iraq posed an imminent threat.

“One thing I do know about Kerry—he will not invade a country the way Bush did,” Moore said.

Although Moore did not spend much time praising Kerry, he said he opposed the efforts of independent candidate Ralph Nader and those considering voting for him. Many political analysts believe that left-wing support for Nader contributed to the electoral defeat former Vice President Al Gore ’69 suffered in 2000 and could do the same to Kerry this year.

Moore said Nader already accomplished his goal of pushing the Democratic Party to the left after 2000. This year, liberals should unite behind the goal of voting Bush out of the presidency, Moore said.

“My appeal to the Nader voters is we have a different job to do this year,” Moore said.

But Moore added, “We need to give those who are thinking of voting for Nader a reason to vote for John Kerry.”

Moore urged the Democratic candidate to take tough and principled stands, lest he lose votes to Nader and cause apathy among the public.

Throughout his speech, Moore also continued his trend of attacking the Bush presidency and its supporters, labeling them unpatriotic.

“They’re not patriots—they’re hate-triots, and they believe in the politics of hate-triotism,” Moore said to a somewhat befuddled audience.

Moore also attacked the war in Iraq.

“The way you don’t support the troops is to send them into harm’s way when it isn’t necessary,” Moore said.

Moore wrapped up his critiques by making fun of an incident in which Bush was hospitalized after choking on a pretzel.

Moore said NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. advised all Americans on national television to watch Fahrenheit 9/11.

“I said a little prayer for George W. Bush,” Moore said. “I hope he’s not watching this race right now and eating a pretzel.”

—Staff writer Alan J. Tabak can be reached at tabak@fas.harvard.edu.